Danger in the air: drones behind rise in near misses

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The opening of the skies to unmanned drones has led to a surge in near misses, according to new figures released by the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington.

Since June pilots have told safety administrators of 25 near misses which could have had catastrophic consequences. Incidents have been reported across the country from a Jet Blue flight arriving at LaGuardia airport earlier this month to close calls at Norfolk, Virginia and New Orleans, Louisiana.

Only last month a drone came within 25m of a passenger plane landing at London's Southend Airport.

With companies such as Amazon talking about using drones to deliver goods, the unmanned aircraft industry is set to boom. In the United States alone, the FAA believes there could be as many as 7500 commercial drones in the skies within five years.

Film studios are among a number of industries lobbying hard for permission to use the aircraft.

At the other end of the scale, small drones are becoming increasingly popular, especially as the price drops. Some have been used by hunters as they try to track their prey.

The US near-miss figures emerged at a time of mounting global concern over the potential danger to aviation posed by drones. Global regulators - including the FAA, Britain's CAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency - are working on new rules.

"We have achieved making aviation very safe, we want to avoid potentially introducing any new risks," an EASA spokesman said.

American hobby drone flyers are required to keep their aircraft below 120m, away from public areas and other aircraft.